In commercial and industrial grain processing there is a strong tendency observable today which appears to be at least partially directed to the past. This is the demand for high-value basic foodstuffs which, with grain, is equated in an almost symbolic manner with the flour produced on grinding stones and the whole-grain bread which is baked from it. In this connection, the objection is raised more or less that the milling industry, as the interface between agriculture on the one hand and the baker and consumers on the other hand, has developed down the wrong path, since the final products either no longer contain important constituents or the latter are contained in impaired form. However, this opinion--which is a result of an excessive division of labor and the consequent modern scientific "division of thought"--overlooks some fundamental facts:
offering good foodstuffs within the framework of prevailing eating habits; it is left to the consumer, for example, to decide which foodstuffs he wants to draw his bulk material from. PA1 the preparation of foodstuffs with the least possible losses during processing, PA1 the economical processing of foodstuffs, which, in particular, is also given energetic consideration, PA1 favorable preparation with respect to physiologically oriented nutrition, so that the foodstuffs can be made use of as completely as possible by humans and animals, that is, with the least possible losses, PA1 a good cleaning of the foodstuffs and a hygienically unobjectionable processing, e.g. also with respect to harmful bacteria, fungi, etc., PA1 offering a multitude of different foodstuffs based on the same raw grain.
Whole-grain and integral/dark flour was produced, according to the old stone grinding principle, by means of grinding the entire kernel one or more times and possibly sifting out a portion of the hulls or the outermost layers of the kernel. It cannot be disputed that this system, also known as flat milling, which was still wide-spread several decades ago, has the advantage that almost all constituents of the grain remain integral in the flour or bruised grain and afford a high-value nutrition for humans by way of bread and other grain products. However, this oldest method also has disadvantages. The products produced from integral grinding have only a limited storage life, particularly when improperly stored, for two basic reasons. The corresponding "health products" are usually intended for immediate consumption. On the other hand, dirt, bacteria, fungus spores, etc. usually adhere only to the outside of the kernel. But, it is precisely the latter which destroy the quality of the products and reduce their storage life or would cause the milled products to rot after a short storage period under bad conditions.
The fact that the grain kernel comprises very distinct parts is often overlooked. Individually, the various parts of the grain kernel give the milled products, i.e. flour, semolina, middlings, feed meal, bran, specific properties, e.g. specific baking characteristics. Such products (semolina for dough products, white flour, etc.), which are required for a specific purpose can only be partially separated with integral grinding or with the flat milling method. It is only so-called advanced milling which allows the production of the multitude of milled products required in presently prevailing eating habits while adhering to the conditions and basic facts listed above.
Depending on which parts of the interior of the kernel are made use of and combined, respectively, for the flour, the end product can be given a very particular aroma (whole-grain bread, medium-white bread, pastry and cake products, etc.). But advanced milling, in particular, allows every separately occurring fraction to be combined again to form a flour, that is, e.g. also to form whole-grain flour, or to be mixed with a flour with increased protein content or even with a flour with more germ content. The system of advanced milling accordingly allows a substantially more goal-oriented preparation of the kernel. By analogy, "integral chopped-meat" is not produced from a carcass in the case of meat either.
Accordingly, in so-called industrial society, the advanced milling method offers many advantages, of which little use has been made so far. A medium-size mill with relatively few operating personnel has a daily production of e.g. 100-200 tons of finished product. The old stone mill with one man has a daily production of 100 to 200 kg.
The advanced milling known today is characterized by a repeated grinding and sifting after every grinding pass. This applies to soft wheat and hard wheat as well as to corn milling. Until two or three decades ago, this process was often repeated 15 to 20 times. But the most recent developments have proven that grinding an average of twelve to fifteen times with proper management leads to the same results. Since the beginning of the seventies, the short advanced milling method, in comparison to the previous long grinding, has become state of the art in advanced milling throughout almost the entire world.
A good miller is capable of achieving the standard of quality demanded by industries receiving the product for further processing, e.g. bakers, dough products factories, etc., even from sharply diverging raw materials by means of mixing the different grain qualities and appropriate milling, particularly by means of very carefully opening the various parts of each kernel of grain in stages.
It is a known fact that, in order to remain competitive, the mill must produce a certain quantity of high-quality, and accordingly also high-price end products from a certain quantity of raw materials. That is, a grain mill constantly strives to achieve a high yield of light flour, semolina, etc. A mill operates well only when it adheres to the quality criteria. An important aspect of the overall economic efficiency is the scope of required machinery, which, in a mill, depends e.g. directly on the quantity of grinding and sifting passes. All recent efforts have shown that grinding cannot be further reduced in advanced milling without directly reducing either the yield or the quality of the milled product, so that an actual stagnation has been observable in the development of the grinding process in milling for some years in this respect.